Sailor x Tinterías - A Deliciously Inky Collaboration

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

The year was 2019, and Jeffrey Coleman, a Spanish professor and pen enthusiast, decided to start a pen blog. Fast forward to June 2020 (which seems like an eternity now but it was just 18 months ago) when Jeffrey thought a podcast would be a better format for his pen musings. He roped in his fraternity brother, Erick Gama, to be the co-host and together, they launched a podcast. Not just any pen podcast, but one in Spanish, called Tinterías, which is a combination of the words “tinta” (ink) and “tonterías” (foolishness or silliness).

As of this writing, there are already more than 75 episodes, which are released weekly on Mondays at 8am Central Time. They often have guests on the show like brand representatives from PIlot and LAMY, distributors, pen makers and nib workers. They also have their own slack (email hola@tinterias.com to be added) and run a Spanish version of Rock Your Handwriting called Luce Tu Escritura. You can find Jeffrey Coleman on Instagram as @drcoleman1102 and Erick Gama @erickgama and also through the podcast account @tinteriaspodcast

Homemade Tortilla (top) and Spicy Chipotle.

The idea for the Deliciosa inks came about when Jeffrey and Erick saw that Sailor North America had begun entering the Mexican market and wanted something akin to the 50 states series that wasn’t US-focused. Sailor asked them to propose something for Mexico and Latin America and the duo came up with a line of inks based on food - Homemade Tortilla and Spicy Chipotle. Of course, I have to add that despite their yummy sounding names, the inks aren’t meant for eating/drinking :-). These two inks were launched in summer/fall of 2021 and come in 50ml square glass bottles like the Manyo series and standard inks.

Homemade Tortilla is a lovely golden brown while Spicy Chipotle is a hotly-debated (see what I did there?) brownish red or a reddish brown color. I think it’s the latter.

You can see that this ink has great shading potential.

Cult Pens Louise, Kobe 21 Taisanji Yellow, Robert Oster African Gold, Diamine Golden Brown (most similar) and KWZ Honey are all similar to Homemade Tortilla.

Homemade Tortilla writing sample on Cosmo Air Light 75gsm, 52 gsm Tomoe River, 68 gsm dot-grid Tomoe River.

Spicy Chipotle has a subtle green sheen that can be seen with wetter swatches.

Blackstone Barrister Brown, Taccia Cha Brown (most similar), Robert Oster Aussie Brown, Diamine Inkvent 2019/Blue Edition Roasted Chestnut, and Monteverde Sweet Life Pumpkin Cake (also pretty close).

Spicy Chipotle on CAL 75, TR 52 and TR68. You can see some of the green sheen in the TR 68 swatch.

Both inks had average flow, neither too wet nor too dry. Homemade Tortilla is more of a shading ink while Spicy Chipotle is more saturated with just a hint of sheen with a wet, broad nib or in big swathes of ink.

The inks are still available for purchase on the Tinterías website. Due to shipping costs, they can only be purchased as a set for $60 (shipping is not included). I bought mine from Jeffrey and Erick at the Chicago Pen Show, where inks could be sold separately with no shipping costs. They already have the next pair of inks ready to go to production now and will be launched later this year. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next two inks!

TWSBI Forest Green Fountain Pen Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to try a TWSBI ink, and this Forest Green is a great place to pick up. Ever since I was a kid, I've had quite a fondness for greens, and dark greens hold a special place in my heart. It's an extremely calming and gentle color in my mind, and I really enjoy it in my ink colors, pen colors, clothing colors, and almost anywhere else that I can find it. That is, when I'm not being distracted by an awesome purple or blue. Green represents the quieter internal ambiance that I crave sometimes when I'm fatigued with the brighter colors.

TWSBI's Forest Green is a fantastic representation of forest green in general, and I've really enjoyed using it lately. It's plenty dark — it almost looks black in low light — but it has plenty of rich, earthy character that I think makes dark forest greens so pretty. The shade is dark and mellow, and there's plenty of green peeking out to let you know that it's definitely a dark green instead of a green-black. The color looks rich and deep on the page, and I love it for that.

With dark inks, shading isn't normally very pronounced, and this is holds true for Forest Green. But, there's just enough shading between the dark and medium green hues to add some drama and intrigue in the strokes. The shading is definitely a subdued characteristic in this ink, but it's just enough to really make it stand out.

One of the more surprising features of this ink is the dry time. In my testing, the ink dried on the page in about 10 seconds — 15 seconds on the longer side for thicker lines. This isn't shabby at all. Thought it won't win any awards for fasted drying ink, it's still a respectably quick drier.

Another notable characteristic of this ink is the sharpness of the lines. There's no visible feathering or bleeding on all the higher quality papers I tried (Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Leuchtturm), and there feathering is minimal on cheap paper. This means it will work great in an office setting where you're forced to use sub-par paper from time to time.

This ink is also well-behaved when it comes to the lubrication and flow from the nib. It's an easy ink to write with and works well in nibs of all shapes and sizes. I've only used a couple of TWSBI's inks in the past, but I'm glad to see that my experience so far is positive when it comes to the basic behavior of their inks.

Forest Green is available in an 18ml bottle for about $7 from Vanness. This is a great value, and I like that the ink isn't in a large bottle. 18ml is enough to last for quite a while, but not so long that it ends up going bad on you or never getting completed used.

If you're in the market for a lovely dark green ink, definitely give TWSBI Forest Green a shake.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Dominant Industry Lake Ink Review

Is this the best looking ink bottle on the market? Is this the best performing ink on the market? Dominant Industry has a good chance of going 2-for-2 in those categories.

Glass ink bottles interest me greatly. Why? They shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I mean, you aren’t writing with the bottle - are you? The liquid inside is what matters, but I would be lying if a cool storage vessel for ink didn’t make a difference in what I think about the brand. That said, a good ink can come in a basic bottle. A bad ink can come in a Faberge Egg and will still be a bad ink.

Fortunately, Dominant Industry Lake is one of the more enjoyable inks I’ve tested in quite some time.

When they first made their splash, it was for wild-looking dip nib only inks like Hologram. While that ink looks amazing and I’ll probably test some down the line, what I was most anxious to test were their standard fountain pen inks.

I grabbed a few bottles for the review crew, and kept No. 115 Lake for myself to try out. It has been a great experience so far.

It could be that I hit the pen and nib perfecta for this ink, allowing it to perform so wonderfully. I used a new Faber-Castell Ambition, with a steel Medium nib. The ink flows perfectly from this nib, even on the more absorbent Story Supply Thick Plot notebook the writing sample was done on.

I guess all good inks are consistent, but this perfect from start to finish? That’s not always how it goes. Lake behaved exactly the same, letter to letter, line to line. It has medium wetness, a small amount of shading, and only sheen if you let it pool up on the page. Dry time is fantastic on Clairefontaine Triomphe, checking in at just over 10 seconds on my finger swipe. On Tomoe River that dry time doubled, but that is better than most on that paper.

What I want to do now is test out Lake in a finer nib pen. The way the ink flows in this Faber-Castell makes me think it will perform just as well in some of my Japanese fine nibs. And the color is strong enough to be able to handle the narrower width of the lines.

The made-for-Instagram bottles drew me in. The ink performance kept me around. And I want more Dominant Industry inks, for both reasons.

You can pick up the fountain pen compatible versions of Dominant Industry inks at Yoseka Stationery for $17.00 for a 25 ml bottle. A little pricey, but not remotely out of line. I look forward to seeing how the other colors I purchased test out. I have high hopes after my first go.

(I purchased this ink from Yoseka Stationery at full retail price.)

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Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!